Keeping the points aside, at the halfway point of the season, leaving Red Bull aside, what’s the pecking order? After the first 12 races, it is extremely difficult to tell which team is second fastest or even third such is the completion. Aston Martin was the surprise at the start but McLaren stole that crown after the British GP. In fact, there are a lot of expectations from McLaren now every race weekend. The Woking outfit took all the right steps in their developmental journey and gave Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri a massive boost. Both McLaren men even secured podiums thanks to the upgrades, albeit Piastri’s came in the Sprint race. Now, to take things further, the McLaren TP Andrea Stella has made an interesting revelation.

As reported by Motorsport, the Woking outfit will stop working on the MCL60 soon after one final upgrade. We understand that is not does not sound like a boost for the McLaren men. However, the bigger picture is, McLaren will now function in their brand new wind tunnel at their massive factory in the second half of 2023 for next year’s car.  This would mean, McLaren will stop using Toyota’s wind tunnel.

“We will stop working on the old car as we leave the Toyota wind tunnel. We will not run the old car in the new wind tunnel,” revealed Stella. “What we are working on with this year’s car, a lot of things are relevant for next year, but this year’s model will not be put in the new wind tunnel. The new wind tunnel will only have next year’s model.”

Surely, the $228 billion Japanese company will find use for it but McLaren no longer will. Apart from doubling as a movie set, now McLaren’s massive $300 million factory will house a wind tunnel as well. This will be a massive boost for the Papaya team and its drivers. Norris’s loyalty to his second home is paying off after all.

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Lando Norris reaping the reward of his loyalty as his “second home” is getting upgrades

There were a lot of doubts about Norris’s future when McLaren started another season poorly. The abysmal start is all but history now with Norris and Co. curzing currently. However, despite the ups and especially the downs, Norris never let his loyalty waver, McLaren is his second home after all.

“During the winter as little as possible. But during the season A lot of time before and after every race? Pretty much. I’ll have my race fly back here. We’ll do all the debriefs. We go through everything I do simulator, I do preparation for the next weekend, so probably one or two days, at least a week when we’re traveling for the race. So another home for me,” said Norris.

Now that we know McLaren will use all its wind tunnel time for the 2024 car, do you see McLaren starting at the front from the start of 2024?

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